I am really grateful to my hon. Friend. He is absolutely right to talk about the mental health workforce. Labour is committed to an extra 8,500 mental health workers, which would mean dedicated mental health support in every school, and community mental health hubs that would reduce pressure on GPs and ensure people get seen sooner. It would ensure support for young people in school before they reach crises in mental health. We would pay for it by abolishing the carried profits loophole, a tax loophole that benefits private equity fund managers. It is not on the Order Paper this afternoon, Mr Deputy Speaker, but if the Government want to adopt that plan in the Budget too, they are very welcome to do so.
Whether it is more mental health staff, more doctors, more nurses, more midwives or more health professionals, the NHS is in crisis and only Labour has a plan to fix it. The Chancellor knows it is the right thing to do—he said so himself. The NHS backs it. Medical schools have the capacity to train more doctors. Thousands of straight-A students want to help the NHS and the NHS needs their help more than ever. The only thing standing in their way is this Government. I challenge them today: double the number of medical schools places, so that we train 15,000 doctors a year; train 10,000 new nurses and midwives every year; double the number of district nurses qualifying every year; train 5,000 more health visitors; and pay for it by abolishing the non-dom tax status, because patients need doctors and nurses more than a wealthy few need a tax loophole. That is the choice the Conservatives face in the Budget. We have a plan; they do not. They are welcome to nick it. Patients across the country would thank them and us if they do.
2.35 pm